Seventy six readers were assessed on levels of verbal efficiency and were recorded thinking aloud while reading text. Protocols were analyzed for evidence of compensation deployment. Analyses revealed that those with less automated reading skills deployed them more often. As expected, verbal efficiency was uncorrelated with literal comprehension…

In a national, longitudinal database, factors were examined that enabled public school students on a path toward failure to significantly improve reading achievement by high school graduation. Being Caucasian and female, having an internal locus of control, and taking an academic curriculum independently predicted academic resilience.…

Examinees can correctly answer many Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) reading items when the passages accompanying the items are missing. According to one hypothesis, examinees use information from other reading items (cognates) belonging to the same passage. The purpose of this study was to test that hypothesis for the revised SAT (SAT-I) reading…

Two measures, perceived academic control and action control (i.e., preoccupation with failure), were administered to college students. Achievement-related cognitions, emotions, motivation, and final grades were measured at the end of the course. Of note, high-control, high-failure-preoccupied students outperformed the other groups by one to two…

The authors surveyed students (N=396) and faculty (N=156) at a 2-year college to determine their views toward publishing students ratings of instruction. Students favored published ratings of instruction, citing potential benefits. In contrast, faculty cited numerous disadvantages and rated the likelihood of potential costs as high relative to…

This study investigated the abilities, self-concept, personality, interest, motivational traits, and other determinants of knowledge across physical sciences/technology, biology/psychology, humanities, and civic domains. Results are consistent with theoretical predictions that development of intellect as knowledge results from investment of…

Three experimental studies investigated psychological processes underlying the effects of achievement in one domain and on self-perceived competence in another. In Study 1, high achievement in one domain led to lower self-perceived competence in the other. Study 2 showed inverse effects on self-perceived competence based on achievement feedback.…

The effects of a book reading technique called interactive book reading on the language and literacy development of 4-year-olds from low-income families were evaluated. Teachers read books to children and reinforced vocabulary in the books by presenting objects that represented the words and providing opportunities to use the words. (BF)

Examined effectiveness and feasibility of phonological awareness training, with and without a beginning decoding component. Teachers were assigned randomly to three groups: control, phonological awareness training, and phonological awareness training with beginning decoding instruction and practice. Group differences were identified at the end of…

An instructional program designed to help middle school students with severe learning disabilities learn about story themes, and focused on enhancing ability to generalize to themes not included in the instruction, was evaluated. Findings indicate students with learning disabilities can profit from instruction geared toward abstract higher order…

Proposes that conceptual and procedural knowledge develop in an iterative fashion and improved problem representation is one mechanism underlying the relations between them. Two experiments were conducted with 5th and 6th grade students learning about decimal fractions. Results indicate conceptual and procedural knowledge do develop, iteratively,…

Examined age and gender differences in verbal skills and visuomotor skills at kindergarten, in achievement in reading and mathematics at Grade four, and the link between skills at kindergarten and later achievement. Readiness in auditory memory and verbal associations predicted later reading achievement while readiness in number skills and visual…

Examined effectiveness of three aspects of parental instruction for predicting children's self-regulation in school. Two patterns of relations were observed. Manner of instruction predicted children's attention to instructions and help-seeking in the classroom. Metacognitive content in instructions did not predict these aspects of self-regulation.…

Interactions between levels of learner knowledge in a domain and levels of instructional guidance were investigated. Inexperienced trade apprentices were presented with either worked examples to study or problems to solve. On subsequent tests, inexperienced trainees benefited most from worked examples. With more experience in the domain, worked…

One hundred forty fourth graders were asked to solve proportion problems about juice-mixing situations both before and after an intervention that used a manipulative model or other materials in three experiments. Results indicate different approaches appear to be necessary to facilitate children's proportional reasoning, depending on the reasoning…